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UASA is of the opinion that  it is totally irresponsible and premature to announce that Lonmin decided to cut 5700 jobs, says Franz Stehring, Divisional Manager of the trade union UASA, responsible for the representation of workers in the mining sector.

In the aftermath of the strike, the industry faced huge challenges in respect of inter alia the health and safety of employees. Due to the number of employees involved, clinics e.g. had insufficient capacity to do medical screening of all employees to ascertain if they were  fit for duty, to identify those who suffered from malnutrition, those who had an interruption of their chronic medication regimes and various other health problems.

In addition, the theft of electric cables during the strike left pumps and other underground equipment inoperable. To become operational again took time and effort and to construct a ramp-up plan for  the safe start of operations did not happen overnight. The nett result is that operations currently only run at approximately 50 to 60 % of normal production, according to Stehring. Only when full production levels are achieved, will Mine Management be able to conduct a due diligence exercise to determine whether or not a full blown restructuring exercise will be required.

Sensation seeking statements in the aftermath of the recent history is therefore very irresponsible since it could easily ignite labour unrest again. This could in turn cause further delays in achieving full production levels, concludes Stehring.